Black November

So much for this 30 day challenge! Believe me, I had all intentions of actually sticking to it but well, you can see how well I did (not!)

I have been super busy lately.. working, being a mother, a housekeeper and a cook! I am also becoming an uprising soccer star (haha!) and I'm getting pretty damn good at baking cup cupcakes. Last week we made cupcakes for both Red Nose Day and the NZ Spinal Trust. Ironic really, for someone who has such a bad relationship with the consumption of food... ANYWAY all that talk about cupcakes is nice and everything but November has been a shit month, 'cuse my French but each year I become more & more convinced that this month, moreso than anyother has the "death curse."

It began in 1996, when we lost both my Grandmother and Great Aunt within a matter of days and continued in 2000 when Sean was tragically taken from us. Over the last decade November has claimed the lives of a cousin, three close family friends, one of my best friend's step father, the mothers of two more friends and the father of another. It's the month when the Mt Erebus crash occured and just yesterday, after the Pike River Mine accident, became the month of New Zealand's worst loss of life as the result of a single event since 1979. I do think it is pretty shitty of the universe to do this to us the month before Christmas!

I have spent the last 6 days listening to numerous tragic stories of the 29 men trapped in that mine - like that of the boy who turned 17 on Thursday and wasn't due to start work until Monday decided to go in a day early. He's now dead. The man from Scotland who was supposed to get married next month. His family members are now coming over for a funeral, not a wedding. The dozen or so children in the tiny town of 10,000 who are now facing life without a father, one of them an unborn baby who will never get to meet its Dad. It is an absolutely tragedy and so today, I am thankful, and I thought I would share my list of what I'm thankful for with you...

I am thankful I live in a small country where we are always united, in good times and bad
I am thankful for my daughters, who fill my house with innocence and laughter
I am thankful I made it home safely from work today
I am thankful for the small things in life
I am thankful for summer
I am thankful for second chances
I am thankful for supportive friends
I am thankful that tonight I had the opportunity to light a candle for our lost men
I am thankful for pretty much everything right now...

How about you?

Rest In Peace Boys ♥